严羽

嚴羽
Yán Yǔ
proper noun

Meanings

  1. 1 Yan Yu (active early 13th century), Southern Song poetry critic, author of Canglang's Remarks on Poetry

Examples

HSK 6
Yán Yǔ shì Nánsòng de shīgē pínglùnjiā.
Yan Yu was a poetry critic of the Southern Song.
HSK 7-9
Yán Yǔ rènwéi, xiě shī hé cānchán yíyàng, guānjiàn zàiyú wù.
Yan Yu held that writing poetry, like Chan meditation, depends above all on awakening.

Tips

history
He came from 邵武 in Fujian, never held office, and called himself 沧浪逋客, 'the runaway of Canglang'. His treatise held up the poets of the high Tang, above all 李白 and 杜甫, as the model, and attacked Song poets such as 苏轼 and 黄庭坚 for making poems out of learning and argument.
culture
His key word, 妙悟 'wondrous awakening', comes from Chan Buddhism: poetry, he said, is reached by sudden insight, not by study. His picture for the best poems is 羚羊挂角, the antelope that hangs by its horns from a branch at night and leaves no tracks to follow.

Stroke Order

严 yán
羽 yǔ